January Project Day 16

Yes, I skipped a day.  Sue me.

Today is Wednesday, the first night of a new semester at Women Writing for a Change.  The first Wednesday of a new semester in which I am not enrolled.  Booooo.  My choice not to with so many overwhelming things in my life going on.  The pressure to produce writing for class was more than I could imagine.  Still there is a beautiful ache in not being there tonight.


I will not be there when the circle is completed on this first night, not be there when the energy seals them in snugly.  

I will miss the hush that holds the empty space so elegantly between the poem and the chime.  

I will miss the way Laurie's rings clink against the bowl as she turns it in her hands.

I will miss the "good" chair.  

I will miss the way the candle illuminates Cassie's face as she reaches for the candle.  

I will miss Linda's funny school stories and Kim's cookies.

I will miss holding the candle, joining my fire to its own or borrowing a little when I have none.  

I will not be there to hear Jane's soft-spoken wisdom in few words.

I will miss Terri's tenderness and Mary W-C's laughter.

I will not cast my words into the circle, nor will I feed off the words of others to the point of sleeplessness.  

I will be forever outside the circle this semester looking in.